MCMPL NEWSLETTER
Mary C. Moore Public Library
Announcements & Events
About Us
Hours
Online newsletter: http://www.lacombelibr ar y.com/newsletter /
FREE memberships & document services (pr int/fax/photocopy/scan) ar e available for For t
McMurray folks temporarily in Lacombe or making a new home here.
A BIG Thank You to ever yone who donated items and attended our gar age sale! It was a gr eat
success.
Monthly feature display: J une 21 is National Abor iginal Day! Don’t miss our display of fiction,
non-fiction and films by Indigenous authors, illustrators and film-makers.
We are hiring: Cir culation Cler k: Par t time up to 28 hour s per week. Must be available days,
evenings and Saturdays. Starting wage is $12.50 per hour. Applications will be received by
email: [email protected], fax: (403) 782-3329 or in person at 101-5214 50th Avenue, Lacombe.
Please apply with cover letter and resume by Friday, June 10, 2016. We thank all applicants for their
interest, however, only candidates selected for an interview will be contacted. No phone calls please.
Monday-Thursday
10am-8pm
Friday
10am-5pm
Saturday
10am-5pm
Sunday & Stat Holidays
Closed
Library Services
Free Wi-Fi
Free public computer access
Lacombe Seniors' Week: Half-price annual memberships ($10!) for new and renewing senior members, June 6 through 11. Also, don't miss our Come-and-go tea, Wednesday, June 8, 10am-noon in
the North County room in the LMC, featuring a short presentation by The Lacombe Historical Society.
Printing
Faxing
Scan-to-email
Jewelry Making Workshops: Tuesday, J une 14 or Thur sday, J une 30, 6-8pm in the library.
Make two pieces of beaded jewelry for $10/person. Space is limited -- Please register by June 10. No
experience necessary! Adults and older teens only, please.
Photocopying
Reference Questions
Annual Friends of the Library Big Book Sale: Satur day, J uly 23 10am-4pm in the Servus Credit
Union room in the LMC. All proceeds to the Friends of the Library. Donations of books for the sale
gratefully accepted at the library.
eBook/Audio downloads
Colouring Club for Adults: Wednesdays, June 1, 15 & 29, drop-in 6-8pm in the library. Relax, unwind and enjoy quiet conversation while being creative! All materials provided. This program is free
to attend! Adults only, please. See our website for upcoming dates.
Regular Programs
Film Club: For our J une 28 meeting, we ar e watching T racks, dir ected by J ohn Cur r an, which
tells the remarkable true story of Robyn Davidson (Mia Wasikowska), a young woman who leaves
her life in the city to make a solo trek through almost 2,000 miles of sprawling Australian desert.
Accompanied by only her dog and four unpredictable camels, she sets off on a life-changing journey
of self-discovery. Along the way, she meets National Geographic photographer Rick Smolan (Adam
Driver) who begins to photograph her voyage. Rated PG. Meetings are held at 7pm in the library.
Monthly Book Club
Adult Colouring Club
Armchair Travel and Local History Lectures will r esume in the fall.
Local History Lectures
Book Club: For our J uly 5 meeting we ar e r eading T he L owland by J humpa Lahir i. “Two
brothers from Calcutta, bound by tragedy; a fiercely brilliant woman haunted by her past; a country
torn by revolution. A powerful new novel--set in both India and America--that explores the price of
idealism and a love that can last long past death. Suspenseful, sweeping, piercingly intimate.”
Children’s Programs
Knitting Club
Monthly Film Club
Armchair Travel Presentations
Regular Children’s Programs: Our Summer Reading Pr ogr am r uns J uly 11 - August 26. The
Summer Olympics take place in Rio in August this year and we are celebrating by learning all about
Brazil! Join us for stories, crafts and fun for ages 2-13. This is a drop-in program, no registration
required. See our website for days and times. Stay tuned for information about regular fall programs.
Mary C. Moore Public Library 101-5214 50 Ave. Lacombe, AB T4L 0B6
403-782-3433
[email protected]
lacombelibrary.com
New Book Spotlight
A selection of our recent acquisitions
Adult Fiction
The Curious Charms of Arthur Pepper by Phaedra Patrick
Sixty-nine-year-old Arthur Pepper lives a simple life. He gets out of bed at precisely 7:30 a.m., just as he did when his
wife, Miriam, was alive. He dresses in the same gray slacks and mustard sweater vest, waters his fern, Frederica, and
heads out to his garden. But on the one-year anniversary of Miriam's death, something changes. Sorting through Miriam's possessions, Arthur finds an exquisite gold charm bracelet he's never seen before. What follows is a surprising
and unforgettable odyssey that takes Arthur from London to Paris and as far as India in an epic quest to find out the
truth about his wife's secret life before they met--a journey that leads him to find hope, healing and self-discovery in
the most unexpected places. Featuring an unforgettable cast of characters with big hearts and irresistible flaws, this is a
curiously charming debut and a joyous celebration of life's infinite possibilities. A poignant and sparkling debut.
Cambodia Noir by Nick Seeley
Phnom Penh, Cambodia: The end of the line. Lawless, drug-soaked, forgotten—it’s where bad journalists go to die.
For once-great war photographer Will Keller, that’s kind of a mission statement: he spends his days floating from one
score to the next, taking any job that pays; his nights are a haze of sex, drugs, booze, and brawling. But Will’s spiral
toward oblivion is interrupted by Kara Saito, a beautiful young woman who shows up and begs Will to help find her
sister, June, who disappeared during a stint as an intern at the local paper. There’s a world of bad things June could
have gotten mixed up in. The Phnom Penh underworld is in an uproar after a huge drug bust; a local reporter has been
murdered in a political hit; and the government and opposition are locked in a standoff that could throw the country
into chaos at any moment. Will’s best clue is June’s diary: an unsettling collection of experiences, memories, and dreams, reflecting
a young woman at once repelled and fascinated by the chaos of Cambodia. As Will digs deeper into June’s past, he uncovers one
disturbing fact after another about the missing girl and her bloody family history. In the end, the most dangerous thing in Cambodia
may be June herself. Propulsive, electric, and filled with unforgettable characters, Cambodia Noir marks the arrival of a fresh new
talent. Nick Seeley is an ambitious, wildly imaginative author and his enthralling debut explores what happens when we venture
into dark places…when we get in over our heads…and when we get lost.
Margaret the First by Danielle Dutton
Margaret the First dramatizes the life of Margaret Cavendish, the shy, gifted, and wildly unconventional 17th-century
Duchess. The eccentric Margaret wrote and published volumes of poems, philosophy, feminist plays, and utopian science fiction at a time when “being a writer” was not an option open to women. As one of the Queen’s attendants and
the daughter of prominent Royalists, she was exiled to France when King Charles I was overthrown. As the English
Civil War raged on, Margaret met and married William Cavendish, who encouraged her writing and her desire for a
career. After the War, her work earned her both fame and infamy in England: at the dawn of daily newspapers, she was
“Mad Madge,” an original tabloid celebrity. Yet Margaret was also the first woman to be invited to the Royal Society
of London—a mainstay of the Scientific Revolution—and the last for another two hundred years. Margaret the First is very much a
contemporary novel set in the past, rather than “historical fiction.” Written with lucid precision and sharp cuts through narrative
time, it is a gorgeous and wholly new narrative approach to imagining the life of a historical woman.
The Noise of Time by Julian Barnes
In 1936, Shostakovich, just thirty, fears for his livelihood and his life. Stalin, hitherto a distant figure, has taken a sudden interest in his work and denounced his latest opera. Now, certain he will be exiled to Siberia (or, more likely, executed on the spot), Shostakovich reflects on his predicament, his personal history, his parents, various women and
wives, his children—and all who are still alive themselves hang in the balance of his fate. And though a stroke of luck
prevents him from becoming yet another casualty of the Great Terror, for decades to come he will be held fast under
the thumb of despotism: made to represent Soviet values at a cultural conference in New York City, forced into joining
the Party and compelled, constantly, to weigh appeasing those in power against the integrity of his music. Barnes elegantly guides us through the trajectory of Shostakovich's career, at the same time illuminating the tumultuous evolution of the Soviet Union. The result is both a stunning portrait of a relentlessly fascinating man and a brilliant exploration of the meaning of art and
its place in society.
Adult Non-Fiction
Lab Girl by Hope Jahren
Lab Girl is a book about work, love, and the mountains that can be moved when those two things come together. It is
told through Jahren’s stories: about her childhood in rural Minnesota with an uncompromising mother and a father
who encouraged hours of play in his classroom’s labs; about how she found a sanctuary in science, and learned to perform lab work done “with both the heart and the hands”; and about the inevitable disappointments, but also the triumphs and exhilarating discoveries, of scientific work. Yet at the core of this book is the story of a relationship Jahren
forged with a brilliant, wounded man named Bill, who becomes her lab partner and best friend. Their sometimes rogue
adventures in science take them from the Midwest across the United States and back again, over the Atlantic to the
ever-light skies of the North Pole and to tropical Hawaii, where she and her lab currently make their home.
Readalikes
Discover new books & authors
Food & Memory
Spiced : a pastry chef's true stories of trials by fire, after-hours exploits, and what really goes on in the kitchen by Dalia
Jurgensen
Spiced is Dalia Jurgensen's memoir of leaving her office job and pursuing her dream of becoming a chef. Eventually
landing the job of pastry chef for a three-star New York restaurant, she recounts with endearing candor the dry cakes and
burned pots of her early internships, and the sweat, sheer determination, and finely tuned taste buds-as well as resilient
ego and sense of humor-that won her spots in world-class restaurant kitchens. With wit and an appreciation for raunchy
insults, she reveals the secrets to holding your own in male-dominated kitchens, surviving after-hours staff parties, and
turning out perfect plates when you know you're cooking for a poorly disguised restaurant critic. She even confesses to a clandestine
romance with her chef and boss-not to mention what it's like to work in Martha Stewart's TV kitchen-and the ugly truth behind the
much-mythologized "family meal." Following Dalia's personal trajectory from nervous newbie to unflappable professional, Spiced
is a clever, surprisingly frank, and affectionate glimpse at the sweet and sour of following your passion.
Blood, Bones, & Butter : the inadvertent education of a reluctant chef by Gabrielle Hamilton
Before Gabrielle Hamilton opened her acclaimed New York restaurant Prune, she spent twenty fierce, hard-living years
trying to find purpose and meaning in her life. Above all she sought family, particularly the thrill and the magnificence of
the one from her childhood that, in her adult years, eluded her. Hamilton's ease and comfort in a kitchen were instilled in
her at an early age when her parents hosted grand parties, often for more than one hundred friends and neighbors. The
smells of spit-roasted lamb, apple wood smoke, and rosemary garlic marinade became as necessary to her as her own
skin. Blood, Bones & Butter follows an unconventional journey through the many kitchens Hamilton has inhabited
through the years: the rural kitchen of her childhood, where her adored mother stood over the six-burner with an oily
wooden spoon in hand; the kitchens of France, Greece, and Turkey, where she was often fed by complete strangers and learned the
essence of hospitality; the soulless catering factories that helped pay the rent; Hamilton's own kitchen at Prune, with its many unexpected challenges; and the kitchen of her Italian mother-in-law, who serves as the link between Hamilton's idyllic past and her own
future family--the result of a difficult and prickly marriage that nonetheless yields rich and lasting dividends. This is an unflinching
and lyrical work. Gabrielle Hamilton's story is told with uncommon honesty, grit, humor, and passion. By turns epic and intimate, it
marks the debut of a tremendous literary talent.
Mastering the art of Soviet cooking : a memoir of love and longing by Anya von Bremzen
Born in 1963, in an era of bread shortages, Anya grew up in a communal Moscow apartment where eighteen families
shared one kitchen. She sang odes to Lenin, black-marketeered Juicy Fruit gum at school, watched her father brew
moonshine, and, like most Soviet citizens, longed for a taste of the mythical West. It was a life by turns absurd, naively
joyous, and melancholy--and ultimately intolerable to her anti-Soviet mother, Larisa. When Anya was ten, she and Larisa
fled the political repression of Brezhnev-era Russia, arriving in Philadelphia with no winter coats and no right of return.
Now Anya occupies two parallel food universes: one where she writes about four-star restaurants, the other where a taste
of humble kolbasa transports her back to her scarlet-blazed socialist past. To bring that past to life, Anya and her mother decide to
eat and cook their way through every decade of the Soviet experience. Through these meals, and through the tales of three generations of her family, Anya tells the intimate yet epic story of life in the USSR. Wildly inventive and slyly witty, Mastering the Art of
Soviet Cooking is that rare book that stirs our souls and our senses.
Day of honey: a memoir of food, love, and war by Annia Ciezadlo
In the fall of 2003, Annia Ciezadlo spent her honeymoon in Baghdad. Over the next six years, while living in Baghdad
and Beirut, she broke bread with Shiites and Sunnis, warlords and refugees, matriarchs and mullahs. Day of Honey is
her memoir of the hunger for food and friendship--a communion that feeds the soul as much as the body in times of
war. Reporting from occupied Baghdad, Ciezadlo longs for normal married life. She finds it in Beirut, her husband's
hometown, a city slowly recovering from years of civil war. But just as the young couple settles into a new home, the
bloodshed they escaped in Iraq spreads to Lebanon and reawakens the terrible specter of sectarian violence. In lucid,
fiercely intelligent prose, Ciezadlo uses food and the rituals of eating to illuminate a vibrant Middle East that most Americans never
see. We get to know people like Roaa, a determined young Kurdish woman who dreams of exploring the world, only to see her life
under occupation become confined to the kitchen; Abu Rifaat, a Baghdad book lover who spends his days eavesdropping in the ancient city's legendary cafés; Salama al-Khafaji, a soft-spoken dentist who eludes assassins to become Iraq's most popular female
politician; and Umm Hassane, Ciezadlo's sardonic Lebanese mother-in-law, who teaches her to cook rare family recipes--which are
included in a mouthwatering appendix of Middle Eastern comfort food. As bombs destroy her new family's ancestral home and militias invade her Beirut neighborhood, Ciezadlo illuminates the human cost of war with an extraordinary ability to anchor the rhythms
of daily life in a larger political and historical context. From forbidden Baghdad book clubs to the oldest recipes in the world,
Ciezadlo takes us inside the Middle East at a historic moment when hope and fear collide. Day of Honey is a brave and compassionate portrait of civilian life during wartime--a moving testament to the power of love and generosity to transcend the misery of war.
Source: goodreads.com
Coming Soon!
The following titles are currently on order.
Place your request today online, or in person at the Library
Adult Fiction
Seize the Night by Kelley Armstrong
History of Loneliness by John Boyne
The Cavedon Luck by Barbara Taylor
Bradford
Suicide Motor Club by Chris Buehlman
Jealous Kid by James Lee Burke
Into the Savage Country by Shannon
Burke
Killing Winter by Tom Calloghan
As Time Goes By by Mary Higgins Clark
Moth Catcher by Ann Cleeves
Man Who Fell from the Sky by Margaret
Coel
Insidious by Catherine Coulter
Garden of Lamentations Deborah Crombie
Ashes of Fiery Weather by Kathleen
Donohoe
House of Echoes by Brendan Duffy
La Rose by Louise Erdich
Terrible Virtue by Ellen Feldman
I’ll See You in Paris by Michelle Gable
Three Sisters, Three Queens by Philippa
Gregory
Different Class by Joanne Harris
One Under by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles
Star Fall by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles
House With No Windows by Nadia Hashimi
The Railwayman’s Wife by Ashley Hay
Fall of Moscow Station by Mark Henshaw
Detective Galileo by Keigo Higashino
Here’s to Us by Elin Hilderbrand
After She’s Gone by Lisa Jackson
Ghosts of Misty Hollow by Sue Ann Jaffarian
No Cats Allowed by Miranda James
Love You Dead by Peter James
Dead Ground in Between by Maureen
Jennings
Night and Day by Iris Johansen
Curse of the 10th Grave by Darynda Jones
Theory of Death by Faye Kellerman
The Perplexing Theft of the Jewel in the
Crown by Vaseem Khan
End of Watch by Stephen King
Ashley Bell by Dean Koontz
Manitou Canyon by William Kent Krueger
Catalyst Killing by Hans Olav Lahlum
Sweet Tomorrow by Debbie Macomber
The Casebook of Newbury and Hobbes by
George Mann
High Stakes by George R.R. Martin
Against the Tide by Kat Martin
Kingdom of Darkness by Andy McDermott
Doll Mask by Joyce Carol Oates
Bury Them Deep by James Oswald
Prayer for the Dead by James Oswald
Christmas Escape by Anne Perry
Long Cosmos by Terry Pratchett & Stephen Baxter
The Great Reckoning by Louise Penny
Barkskins by Annie Proulx
Dark Corners by Ruth Rendell
Service of the Dead by Candace Robb
Brotherhood in Death by J.D. Robb
Bay of Sighs by Nora Roberts
Stars of Fortune by Nora Roberts
When the Music’s Over by Peter Robinson
Lily and the Octopus by Steven Rowley
Cambodian Noir by Nick Seely
Zero-G by William Shatner
Mandibles by Lionel Shriver
The Rules of Love and Grammer by Mary
Simses
Big Showdown by Mickey Spillane
Magic by Danielle Steel
Modern Lovers by Emma Straub
Crow Girl by Erik Axl Sund
Fly by Night by Andrea Thalasinos
Foreign Agent by Brad Thor
Shattered Tree by Charles Todd
Vinegar Girl by Anne Tyler
Ink and Bone by Lisa Unger
Ice Age by Fred Vargas
Wolf Lake by John Verdon
Katherine of Aragon by Alison Weir
Deep Blue by Randy Wayne White
Panacea by F. Paul Wilson
Magruder's Curiosity Cabinet by H.P.
Wood
Adult Non-Fiction
Cooking Wild by John Ash
The Winter Fortress: The Epic Mission to
Sabotage Hitler’s Atomic Bomb by Neal
Bascomb
The Pipestone Wolves: The Rise and Fall
of a Wolf Family by Gunther Bloch
Spinster: A Life of One’s Own by Kate
Bolick
Welcome to the Goddamn Ice Cube:
Chasing Fear and Finding Home in the
Great White North by Blair Braverman
Thicker than Blood: Adoptive Parenting
in the Modern World by Marion Crook
The Great Kananaskis Flood: A Disaster
That Forever Changed the Face of Kananaskis Country by Gillean Daffern
Meat on the Side Nikki Dinki
Queers Were Here by Richard Gilmour
Robin Williams: A Singular Portrait by
Arthur Grace
Joe & Marilyn: Legends in Love by C.
David Heymann
The Native Voice: The Story of How Maisie Hurley and Canada's First Aboriginal
Newspaper Changed a Nation by Eric
Jamieson
Jimmy Stewart by Michael Mann
Through the Eyes of a Belfast Child by
Greg McVicker
Nazi Hunters by Andrew Nagorski
It’s a Long Story by Willie Nelson
Somme by Hugh Sabag-Montefiore
I’ve Got Sand in All the Wrong Places by
Lisa Scottoline
Price Paid: The Hidden History of Canada
by Bev Sellars
Time of Your Life by Margaret Trudeau
Young Adult Fiction
All the Major Constellations by Pratima
Cranse
Da Vinci’s Tiger by L.M. Elliott
Trilogy of Two by Juman Malouf
Soundless by Richelle Mead
OCDaniel by Wesley King
Passion of Dolssa by Julie Berry
Wink Poppy Midnight by April Tucholke
Front Lines by Michael Grant
End of Fun by Sean McGinty
Surviving High School by Lele Pons
Anna and the Swallow Man by Gavriel
Savit
A Steep and Thorny Way by Cat Winters
Asking for It by Louise O’Neill
Blackhearts by Nicole Castroman
My Lady Jane by Cynthia Hand
Tyranny of Petticoats by Jessica Spotswood
Jerkbait by Mia Siegert
After the Woods by Kim Savage
Heir to the Sky by Amanda Sun
Rebel Bully Geek Pariah by Jade Lange
Stone Field by Christy Lenzi
I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson
Gemini by Sonja Mukherjee
These Vicious Masks by Tarun Shanker
Longbow Girl by Linda Davies
Drag Teen by Jeffery Self
Railhead by Philip Reeve
Fierce and Subtle Poison by Samantha
Mabry
What We’re Reading
Staff Picks
Amy
The Olive Season by Carol Drinkwater
Striking a lovely balance of memoir, travelogue and olive-growing how-to, Drinkwater delivers a richly textured account of her
enviable life in southern France. She and her husband return from their wedding in Polynesia to their farm: "[P]erched halfway up
the slope of the hill, our belle époque villa comes into view. Abounding in balustrade terraces, nestling among cedars and palms...
overlooking the bay of Cannes towards the sun-kissed Mediterranean, there it is." The author's roots are in acting, and her dramatic
flair turns mundane chores-e.g., spraying olive trees with fungicide; learning the basics of beekeeping-into colorful celebrations of
nature. Some of her adventures are quite funny, such as a stuffy dinner at a British Lady's home-it's the French equivalent of a
McMansion, in a housing development "where the enormously wealthy and overly paranoid can vacation with peace of mind, secure in the knowledge that armed guards and coded gates keep the rest of the south of France out of sight and at bay." Drinkwater's
description of her dinner companion at that gathering-"a convivial, lobster-faced aristocrat" who makes her feel like she's "in the
company of a steaming kettle"-typifies her pointed yet kindhearted sense of humor. But at the heart of these optimistic musings lies
Drinkwater's desire for a child of her own (her husband has daughters from a previous marriage), and this book is heartbreakingly
framed around near-fulfillment of that dream. Drinkwater succeeds in illustrating not only the graceful countryside, but the buoying power of an adopted community and a devoted spouse.
Brianna
Mornings in Jenin by Susan Abulhawa
Forcibly removed from the ancient village of Ein Hod by the newly formed state of Israel in 1948, the Abulhejas are moved into
the Jenin refugee camp. There, exiled from his beloved olive groves, the family patriarch languishes of a broken heart, his eldest
son fathers a family and falls victim to an Israeli bullet, and his grandchildren struggle against tragedy toward freedom, peace, and
home. This is the Palestinian story, told as never before, through four generations of a single family. The very precariousness of
existence in the camps quickens life itself. Amal, the patriarch's bright granddaughter, feels this with certainty when she discovers
the joys of young friendship and first love and especially when she loses her adored father, who read to her daily as a young girl in
the quiet of the early dawn. Through Amal we get the stories of her twin brothers, one who is kidnapped by an Israeli soldier and
raised Jewish; the other who sacrifices everything for the Palestinian cause. Amal’s own dramatic story threads between the major
Palestinian-Israeli clashes of three decades; it is one of love and loss, of childhood, marriage, and parenthood, and finally of the
need to share her history with her daughter, to preserve the greatest love she has.
Cheri
The Last Mile by David Baldacci
Convicted murderer Melvin Mars is counting down the last hours before his execution--for the violent killing of his parents twenty
years earlier--when he's granted an unexpected reprieve. Another man has confessed to the crime. Amos Decker, newly hired on an
FBI special task force, takes an interest in Mars's case after discovering the striking similarities to his own life: Both men were
talented football players with promising careers cut short by tragedy. Both men's families were brutally murdered. And in both
cases, another suspect came forward, years after the killing, to confess to the crime. A suspect who may or may not have been telling the truth. The confession has the potential to make Melvin Mars--guilty or not--a free man. Who wants Mars out of prison?
And why now? But when a member of Decker's team disappears, it becomes clear that something much larger--and more sinister-than just one convicted criminal's life hangs in the balance. Decker will need all of his extraordinary brainpower to stop an innocent man from being executed.
Connie
Moon Called by Patricia Briggs
As the holidays draw near in Caerphilly, Mother volunteers to take part in in a big Christmas-themed decorator show house—each
room of a temporarily untenanted house is decorated to the hilt by a different decorator for the public to tour. Of course, Mother
insists that Meg pitch in with the organization, and she finds herself surrounded by flamboyant personalities with massive egos
clashing and feeling their professional reputations are at stake. Then the rooms start to be sabotaged, and an unfortunate designer
turns up dead—making Mother a prime suspect. Can Meg catch the real killer in time to save Mother the indignity of arrest?
Kirstin
The Dovekeepers by Alice Hoffman
Blends mythology, magic, archaeology and women. Traces four women, their path to the Masada massacre. In 70 CE, nine hundred Jews held out for months against armies of Romans on a mountain in the Judean desert, Masada. According to the ancient
historian Josephus, two women and five children survived. Four bold, resourceful, and sensuous women come to Masada by a different path. Yael’s mother died in childbirth, and her father never forgave her for that death. Revka, a village baker’s wife, watched
the horrifically brutal murder of her daughter by Roman soldiers; she brings to Masada her twin grandsons, rendered mute by their
own witness. Aziza is a warrior’s daughter, raised as a boy, a fearless rider and expert marksman, who finds passion with another
soldier. Shirah is wise in the ways of ancient magic and medicine, a woman with uncanny insight and power. The four lives intersect in the desperate days of the siege, as the Romans draw near. All are dovekeepers, and all are also keeping secrets — about
who they are, where they come from, who fathered them, and whom they love.
Mary
The War that Saved My Life by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley
An exceptionally moving story of triumph against all odds set during World War II. Nine-year-old Ada has never left her oneroom apartment. Her mother is too humiliated by Ada’s twisted foot to let her outside. So when her little brother Jamie is shipped
out of London to escape the war, Ada doesn’t waste a minute—she sneaks out to join him. So begins a new adventure of Ada, and
for Susan Smith, the woman who is forced to take the two kids in. As Ada teaches herself to ride a pony, learns to read, and watches for German spies, she begins to trust Susan—and Susan begins to love Ada and Jamie. But in the end, will their bond be enough
to hold them together through wartime? Or will Ada and her brother fall back into the cruel hands of their mother? This masterful
work of historical fiction is equal parts adventure and a moving tale of family and identity—a classic in the making.
Melvyn
Unbranded by Ben Masters, et al.
On an epic 3,000-mile journey through the most pristine backcountry of the American West, four friends rode horseback across an
almost contiguous stretch of unspoiled public lands, border to border, from Mexico to Canada. For their trail horses, they adopted
wild mustangs from the US Bureau of Land Management that were perfectly adapted to the rocky terrain and harsh conditions of
desert and mountain travel. A meticulously planned but sometimes unpredictable route brought them face to face with snowpack,
downpours, and wildfire; unrelenting heat, raging rivers, and sheer cliffs; jumping cactus, rattlesnakes, and charging bull moose;
sickness, injury, and death. But they also experienced a special camaraderie with each other and with the mustangs. Through it all,
they had a constant traveling companion—a cameraman, shooting for the documentary film Unbranded. The trip’s inspiration and
architect, Ben Masters, is joined here by the three other riders, Ben Thamer, Thomas Glover, and Jonny Fitzsimons; two memorable teachers and horse trainers; and the film’s producers and intrepid cameramen in the telling of this improbable story of adventure and self-discovery.
Miranda
In Other Words by Jhumpa Lahiri, translated by Ann Goldstein
In Other Words is at heart a love story—of a long and sometimes difficult courtship, and a passion that verges on obsession: that
of a writer for another language. For Jhumpa Lahiri, that love was for Italian, which first captivated and capsized her during a trip
to Florence after college. And although Lahiri studied Italian for many years afterward, true mastery had always eluded her. So in
2012, seeking full immersion, she decided to move to Rome with her family, for “a trial by fire, a sort of baptism” into a new language and world. In Rome, Lahiri began to read, and to write—initially in her journal—solely in Italian. In Other Words, an autobiographical work written in Italian, investigates the process of learning to express oneself in another language, and describes the
journey of a writer seeking a new voice. Presented in a dual-language format, it is a book about exile, linguistic and otherwise,
written with an intensity and clarity not seen since Nabokov. A startling act of self-reflection and a provocative exploration of belonging and reinvention.
Sharon
Some By Fire by Stuart Pawson
Charlie Priest was a newly promoted sergeant on the Leeds force when he was called to the scene of a tragic fire, deliberately set.
Now a DI in nearby Heckley, Charlie jumps on the chance to re-open the investigation when a message left by a suicide suggests a
new lead. The cat is well and truly amongst the pigeons for those who thought, after two decades, they were safe from justice. By a
combination of luck, detective work and, Charlie would say, soaring flights of the investigative imagination, he is soon closing in
on the perpetrators. But a cornered villain with nothing to lose can be dangerous for a copper who will take every kind of risk in
the hunt for justice."
Victoria
Me Before You by JoJo Moyes
Lou Clark knows lots of things. She knows how many footsteps there are between the bus stop and home. She knows she likes
working in The Buttered Bun tea shop and she knows she might not love her boyfriend Patrick. What Lou doesn't know is she's
about to lose her job or that knowing what's coming is what keeps her sane. Will Traynor knows his motorcycle accident took
away his desire to live. He knows everything feels very small and rather joyless now and he knows exactly how he's going to put a
stop to that. What Will doesn't know is that Lou is about to burst into his world in a riot of colour. And neither of them knows
they're going to change the other for all time.
Source: goodreads.com
Film Picks
Highlights from our Special Film Collection
June Spotlight
Crimes of All Kinds
Beeba Boys, directed by Deepa Mehta, is a kinetic drama loosely based on the career of notorious crime lord "Bindy"
Singh Johal and the Punjabi gangs of second- and third-generation Indian immigrants operating on Canada's West Coast
in the 1990s. Jeet Johar is a devoted family man and observant member of the Jat Sikh community. He is also a merciless
gangster who fronts a pack of nattily dressed young toughs known as the Beeba Boys. Competing with other local Asian
gangs for supremacy in the Vancouver drugs-and-arms-trafficking racket, Jeet leads his boys into battle to fight for their
piece of this lucrative pie and for the respect they believe they deserve. Yet Jeet also finds time to mentor a volatile new
gang member and seduce a beautiful woman serving on the jury at the neophyte's murder trial. Mehta shows us all the
dark allure of the gangs' high-tension, male-centric world, one that beckons with the promise of glamour and fast money but demands
a sacrifice all out of proportion to its rewards.
Peaky Blinders, season 1, directed by Otto Bathurst, is a gangster family epic set in Birmingham, England, in 1919, just
after the First World War. The story centers on the Peaky Blinders gang and their ambitious and highly dangerous boss
Tommy Shelby. The gang comes to the attention of Chief Inspector Chester Campbell, a detective in the Royal Irish Constabulary sent over from Belfast (where he'd been sent to clean up the city of the IRA, gangs, and common criminals).
Winston Churchill charged him with suppressing disorder and uprising in Birmingham and recover a stolen cache of arms
meant to be shipped to Libya. Season 2 coming soon to the library.
Happy Valley, season 1 directed by Euros Lyn, et al. Catherine Cawood is a strong-willed police sergeant in West Yorkshire, still coming to terms with the suicide of her daughter, Becky, eight years earlier. Cawood is now divorced from her
husband and living with her sister, a recovering alcoholic and heroin addict, who is helping her bring up Becky's young
son, the product of rape. Neither Catherine's ex-husband nor their adult son, wants anything to do with the child. Catherine hears that the rapist responsible for ruining her family is out of prison after serving eight years for drug charges, and
soon becomes obsessed with finding him, unaware that he is involved in a recent kidnapping Things quickly take a dark
turn as the abductors scramble to keep the kidnapping secret, although Catherine is onto them.
Black Mass, directed by Scott Cooper. In 1970s South Boston, FBI Agent John Connolly persuades Irish mobster James
"Whitey" Bulger to collaborate with the FBI and eliminate a common enemy: the Italian mob. The drama tells the true
story of this unholy alliance, which spiraled out of control, allowing Whitey to evade law enforcement, consolidate power, and become one of the most ruthless and powerful gangsters in Boston history.
Seven Psychopaths, directed by Martin McDonagh. Marty is a struggling writer who dreams of finishing his screenplay,
"Seven Psychopaths". Billy is Marty's best friend, an unemployed actor and part time dog thief, who wants to help Marty
by any means necessary. All he needs is a little focus and inspiration. Hans is Billy's partner in crime. A religious man
with a violent past. Charlie is the psychopathetic gangster whose beloved dog, Billy and Hans have just stolen. Charlie's
unpredictable, extremely violent and wouldn't think twice about killing anyone or anything associated with the theft.
Marty is going to get all the focus and inspiration he needs, just as long as he lives to tell the tale.
Filth, directed by Jon S. Baird. Scheming Bruce Robertson, a bigoted and corrupt policeman, is in line for a promotion
and will stop at nothing to get what he wants. Enlisted to solve a brutal murder and threatened by the aspirations of his
colleagues, including Ray Lennox, Bruce sets about ensuring their ruin, right under the nose of unwitting Chief Inspector Toal. As he turns his colleagues against one another by stealing their wives and exposing their secrets, Bruce starts to
lose himself in a web of deceit that he can no longer control. His past is slowly catching up with him, and a missing
wife, a crippling drug habit and suspicious colleagues start to take their toll on his sanity. The question is: can he keep
his grip on reality long enough to disentangle himself from the filth? Based on the novel by Irvine Welsh.
Source: rottentomatoes.com
S
he month of May had caused
some confusion in the kingdom. The first part of the month
had produced raging fires and the
subjects of the land had rallied to help
those affected by the disaster while the
last two weeks had turned cold and
wet. This had helped the arid crops but
the Royal Children were wondering
what summer would bring. The Royal
Library was busy planning to honour the
senior subjects of the land the first week
of June and the schools were planning
their visits to see Lady Mary. Throughout history there have been many famous librarians and some of them are
listed below.
Lady Brianna was very busy working
at the library, babysitting and working
for her father's business. She would
probably find school relaxing after her
hectic schedule. Famous Librarian: Jacob Grimm author of Grimm's
Fairy Tales published in 1812, graduated with a law degree but chose to
work as a librarian in Kasel.
Lady Victoria had attended a concert
by the group "Hedley" and had also
celebrated her birthday the last week
in May. This scribe hopes that she
enjoyed both events. Famous Librarian: Marcel Proust was one of the
most celebrated and obscure novelists
of all time and he chose to go to
school to become a librarian. His famous work In Search of Lost Time is still studied today.
The Library Ladies
Lady Christina was looking forward to
some time off in June. A well deserved rest from her duties. First, however, she would plan a tea and social for the honoured seniors in the kingdom. Famous Librarian: Melvil Dewey was the founder of the Dewey Decimal system and has been
named the "Father of Modern Librarianship". He created this
system in 1876 and although many have questioned it's efficiency, it has not been replaced. (He was also a little crazy.)
Lady Connie was back and had caught up on her work. She
was busy with book donations and her magazines. She was also
being a good and loyal daughter helping her mother with some
health issues. Famous Librarian: St. Lawrence: As one of the
patron saints of librarians, St. Lawrence was a Catholic deacon
killed by the Romans for refusing to turn over Christian documents he was entrusted to protect.
Lady Sharon was back from a wonderful visit to her home realm
of Northern Ireland. She and her daughters also made a trip to
Tipperary and Cashel and, yes, it is a long way to Tipperary. She also visited her family. Famous Librarian: Giacomo
Casanova was the infamous spy, writer and lover who studied to
become a priest but since that didn't work out he worked as a
librarian in Bohemia.
Lady Mary had finished her regular classes and was going to
miss some of the Royal Children who were entering the halls of
education. She was having a holiday in the kingdom of British
Columbia in June before starting the TD Summer program. Famous Librarian: Joanna Cole: Writer of the Magic
School Bus series worked as a librarian while she wrote her
books for elementary school children.
Lady Miranda had out done herself by baking the most delicious
treats for Lady Mary's birthday celebration. She was working
hard on the programming for the kingdom's adults and had started quite a few new programs. Famous Librarian: Golda Meir: The fourth prime minister of Israel, an ambassador to the
Soviet Union and one of the 24 who signed the Israeli Declaration of Independence was a librarian.
Wizard Melvyn was keeping the technology in the library in line
(or on-line) as well as advising and helping Lady Mary with the
summer program. Famous Librarian: Marcel Duchamp: Considered to be one of the most significant modern artists of the
Dadaist and Surrealist movements. Around 1912, he became
tired of painting and worked as a librarian at the Bibliotheque
Sainte-Geneviève.
Lady Kirstin was in wedding overload since two of her brothers
were getting married only a week apart. This scribe commends
her for being up to the social commitment. Famous Librarian: Jorge Luis Borges is an Argentine writer of fantasy literature in the 20th century. He was a librarian before getting fired
by the Peron regime. His most famous short story "The Library
of Babel", depicts the universe as a huge library.
Lady Cheri was back from her holiday and was head cheerleader
for her son's basketball team. They had an excellent record and
Lady Cheri was a staunch fan. Famous Librarian: Ben Franklin was a librarian and in 1731 he and his philosophy group Junto organized the "Articles of Agreement" which set up the United State's first library.
Lady Amy had been busy filling in for Lady Cheri while she
was on holiday and still found the time to visit family in Pincher
Creek. Famous Librarian: Lewis Carroll the author of Alice's
Adventures in Wonderland was a librarian at Christ Church in
Oxford. He left the position to become a math lecturer but always said he thought librarians had a more important job than
professors or politicians.
As you can see, many famous people were librarians and found
the job both challenging and rewarding. The library is an important part of any community and the Library Ladies would
keep it running efficiently for the kingdom.
Written by your loyal scribe,
Lady Miss Mary